How do you take your coffee?
In paper, polystyrene or plastic?
If you're a regular drinker of takeaway coffees, I'm guessing lots of the first, hardly ever any of the second, and third, who serves coffee in plastic cups anyway?
Pretty much every barista if you have a KeepCup.
This is mine.
Now ordinarily, the idea of drinking hot liquid out of plastic gets an automatic "No way" from me. So I wrote to KeepCup and asked them about the safety of their product and the possibility of toxins leaching out of the plastic.
They replied that, "We have chosen our plastics with care – the KeepCup is manufactured from polypropylene, #5 food grade safe plastic which is BPA free – unlike the yucky, leaching plastics."
So, mind at ease, I gave mine a new home in my car's drink holder, where it's always available to toss into my handbag.
That's one of the main advantages of KeepCups over other portable coffee containers I've seen – it's so light and easily portable, as well as sealable.
Unlike the stainless steel travel mugs, the porcelain-with-rubber-lid coffee cups or the silicone ones, which are bulky, heavy and unsealed, so likely to drip all over your handbag.
The KeepCup has this nifty silicon plug on the lid that rotates to reveal the sipper hole, or back to seal it.
Another perk… baristas think you're cool when you hand one over 
No seriously. I don't think I've ever used it without getting comments like, "Oh, these are a great idea" or "These are cool", and I end up chatting with them about the concept, and how many people are using them, etc.
Kinda nice when the barista's cute too!
***
So, I got mine from the evoshop at Chadstone, where I stood and mixed-and-matched the cup, lid, band and plug colours til I got the combo I liked. Not sure if you're meant to mix them up like that, but no-one stopped me.
I've seen them around a lot, though… you shouldn't have trouble finding one.
They come in 3 sizes – Small (227ml), Medium (340ml) and Large (470ml), and start from $12.00.
Mine's the medium size, but it has an indicator line inside, so the barista knows where to pour to if you order a small coffee. Clever huh?
xx Kiki
I usually go for china. When I drink my coffee at home it’s always from the same china cup and now I am home most of the time the kitchen is my usual coffee haunt. When I was working I’d take my “work cup” down to the coffee shop and have them fill it.
But I am thinking about getting a keep cup. For when I am out and want a coffee. Much more practical than hauling a china cup around with me and a lot more environmentally friendly than paper…
Thanks for the review. I’ve been thinking about getting a ‘keep cup’ for a while now (currently not drinking a lot of coffee as I’m pregnant) but thought baristas would think I’m a dag, so good to know they would actually think I’m cool instead!
I’ve had mine for ages – I buy at least one take away coffee each day and I built a mental picture of the mountain of disposable cups that would represent by the end of a year. It was slightly horrifying.
I didn’t undertake the due diligence that you did with regard to thinking about the dangers of hot liquids in plastics.
I love it and keep mine at work. I’ve just seriously downgraded the size of handbag so there’ll be no chucking one in there though.
I love my Keep Cup — and my uni gives a 50c discount on coffees when you bring a Keep Cup, which is extra incentive! I find it doesn’t work very well for tea. The hotter water tends to take on a bit of a silicon taste. Just a warning. It’s fine for soups, though.
Kitty – I hear you on the china. Good on you for taking your to your cafe when you did! I admit plastic is not my first choice for coffee, but I just can’t justify the enviro impact of paper coffee cups anymore. Plus I’ve read things recently about them being toxic to the drinker as well, which is really worrying
sass and spice – Finally, being ‘green’ is what all the cool kids are doing
scout – Making a mental image is a great idea, because it’s so powerful. I used to try and take all my takeaway cups home with me to recycle, but that’s not always practical and I’d feel so bad throwing them in pavement bins. Now I feel guilty when I forget to take my KeepCup with me!
a – That’s great… all those 50c discounts would add up! Bummer about the tea, though. Luckily I don’t buy takeaway tea but that does make me a bit suspect about the whole leaching claim… hmmm
I love my Keep Cup and don’t get near coffee shops without it.
Mr Skek gave me a keepcup for my birthday and i adore it! such a great concept